They placed tess in the middle of the chain of four, with Maureen and Rick in front of her and Al behind her. She preferred to think it was so they could make sure she didn’t get lost. But she suspected that at least part of it was that they still simply didn’t trust her.
It was the dead of night, well after three A.M. She was reminded how forbidding the forest could be at this time of night. Every other step she tripped over something she couldn’t see and felt something brush against her she couldn’t identify. A voice deep inside her told her to run, to flee, to get the hell out of Dodge. But she had to fight her panic down, to suppress those natural instincts.
This was a test. They were trying to determine whether she had what it took to be part of their group. She couldn’t fail the test, not if she hoped to become a member and get the inside scoop she needed to crack the murder. She had to persevere.
“We wait here,” Rick whispered. They hunkered down in a grove of trees on the crest of a small hill. Maureen and Al both sat, propping themselves against large tree trunks. They at least seemed to know what they were doing.
“Where are we?” Tess asked timidly.
“Near Northwest 14,” Rick said. He pointed toward a large section of tall trees on the opposite side of the clearing-NW14, on the surveyors’ maps.
“I thought we were going to spike the trees,” Tess said. “It’s already after three.”
“We wait,” Rick said firmly, and he rested himself on a large rock beside Maureen.
Tess didn’t understand, but she saw no point in arguing. She found a soft spot in a pile of leaves, sat down, and waited.
It was more than half an hour later when Rick rose to his feet, brushing the dirt off the back of his jeans. “I think that’s long enough.”
Tess was startled by the sound of his voice. There had been no conversation during the waiting period-for security reasons, she assumed. And given the lateness of the hour and the length of time she’d been hiking, she had all but fallen asleep.
Tess pushed herself up, wiping her eyes. “Mind telling me what’s going on? You told me we were going to spike trees. Said we would start around three. Wasn’t that the plan?”
“That’s what we told you,” Rick said. “But that wasn’t the plan.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Maureen said gently. “But we had to be sure we could trust you.”
“So you lied to me?”
“We gave you false information about our plans,” Al explained. “Then we took you back to town and made sure you had a chance to report, if that was your intent.”
“You thought I was working for the cops?”
“Or worse, the Cabal.” Maureen laid her hand gently on Tess’s shoulder. “You have to understand-we know the Cabal has tried to infiltrate our group. And we feel certain they’ll try again. We had to be cautious.”
“So you fed me false information.”
Rick nodded. “And then we came out here, near the place where we told you we would spike, and waited. There’s really only one practical way into Northwest 14, and I could watch it perfectly from here. If there had been any cops or loggers or Cabal thugs coming to catch us in the act, I would’ve seen them.”
Tess’s lips parted. “You laid a trap.”
“Correction. I waited to see if there was a trap. There wasn’t. You didn’t talk.”
“I could’ve told you I wouldn’t.” She frowned. “But I guess you had to see it for yourselves. You had to be cautious.”
“But no longer,” Maureen said. “You’ve passed this test, and there won’t be any more. You’re a member of Green Rage now.” She squeezed Tess’s shoulder affectionately. “Welcome to the club.”
“Swell,” Tess said. “Do I get the secret decoder ring now?”
They laughed.
“Even better,” Al said. “You get to be a real-life terrorist.”
Maureen slapped his shoulder. “Stop that. You’re worse than the press. We are not terrorists.”
“I’m not interested in semantic games,” Al said. “We blow things up for political reasons. You choose your own label.”
“So,” Tess asked, “are we going to spike those trees now?”
“Nah,” Rick answered. “That was never on the agenda. Those trees in Northwest 14 aren’t old growth, and besides, we spike only before clear-cutting begins, when there’s still time to back the loggers off. No, we have a different plan. We need to walk a little more.”
“Not as much as before, I hope,” Tess said.
“Just about ten minutes.”
Tess followed Rick as he led them on another hike through the dense dark forestland. When he finally stopped, she could see they had reached the site of an ongoing logging operation. Fallen trees lined the perimeter. Heavy machinery dotted the landscape.
“I thought the current logging was taking place south of here,” Tess said. “Near the river.”
“It’s supposed to be,” Rick said. “These are old-growth trees, four and five hundred years old. The trees lining the perimeter have been marked by the Freddies with a blue X-that means do not cut.”
“So why is all this equipment out here?”
“Why do you think? They’re cutting the trees, anyway-even though it’s against the law and contrary to their own press-release BS. Al found out about it last night while he was scouting. It’s a renegade operation. They send a small team out here while the main team stays where they’re supposed to be. Acting as cover.”
“But why? When they have the other trees?”
“Because they want them all,” Al answered.
“It’s more than that,” Maureen added. “When loggers work the smaller trees, they may have to cut all day before they make their quota. When they work these huge old-growth trees, one tree alone may be sufficient to fill a huge eighteen-wheel transport truck. They get more done in less time. Which translates to higher profits.”
“You should call the police,” Tess said. “Or maybe the Forest Service.”
“We’ve tried that route before,” Al said. “By the time any of those so-called officials take action, this forest will be leveled. The logging company will be fined-maybe-and perhaps reprimanded. But they won’t care, because they’ll still have their grossly inflated profits, which will far exceed any fine levied. And the trees will be gone.”
“That’s just horrible,” Tess said. “Someone has to do something.”
“Our thoughts exactly,” Al replied. “Someone has to speak for the trees, but no one in officialdom is doing it. So we’ve elected ourselves.”
“What are you planning to do?”
Al crouched down and pointed. “See that huge piece of machinery down there?”
Tess followed his finger. She saw a large metal machine, five wheels on each side, with a cab in the center, and two great robot arms at the front with sharp pincer blades at each tip.
“That’s a tree cutter. One of the great myths the logging companies like to perpetuate is that trees are felled by stouthearted manly men. But the truth is, today, most trees are felled by big machines like that one. They’re much more efficient. That thing can take down a twelve-inch tree all by itself. It grips it with one claw arm, cuts it with the built-in saws in the other, and carries it to the transport truck. No crash. No Tim-berrrrrr! And no manly men. Unless you count the one sitting in the air-conditioned cab with the FM radio.”
“That’s the real reason there are fewer loggers working every year,” Maureen explained. “That monster can outwork twenty men with chain saws. And it doesn’t get tired. And it doesn’t require Social Security payments or health care coverage. Guess which the big logging companies prefer?”
Tess felt a tightness in her jaw. “How many weeks will it take that machine to clear-cut these old-growth trees?”
“Weeks?” Rick laughed. “Try days. Three, I’d guess. Maybe four at the outmost. Which is why we couldn’t afford to wait until after Zak’s trial.”
For once Tess couldn’t think of a thing to say. “That’s wrong.”
“No argument from me,” Al said. “But I’m going to set it right again.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a gray hand-sized object.
Tess didn’t have to be a demolitions expert to realize that it was some kind of bomb.
“What are you going to do?”
“What do you think? I’m going to take that monster out.”
“People could be hurt.”
“Not if I do it now. When no one’s around.”
“But when they start the ignition-”
“Despite what you may have heard, we don’t use trigger bombs or movement bombs or anything else that’s designed to harm some unsuspecting operator. All we do is take the thing out, so it can’t be used to kill any more trees.
“Surely the company will just replace it.”
“Maybe. But they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. They might decide this forest has become too expensive for them. Especially if we do it again. And again. And again.”
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars?” Tess said. “We could be charged with grand larceny. Arson.”
“Only if we get caught. Excuse me.”
Al crept down the side of a small slope and entered the clearing. He moved slowly at first, making sure no guard had been posted and no drunken loggers were hanging about. Once he was certain the coast was clear, he moved more quickly. He walked directly to the tree cutter and planted his bundle at the base. He fiddled with it for a few moments, turned, and ran.
“Get down!” he shouted.
Tess and the rest fell back into the trees. They crouched down and covered their heads. Al caught up to them and dived forward. “Hit the deck!”
An instant later, the tree cutter exploded. Tess heard the explosion before she saw it. It was as if a sonic boom had sounded inside her eardrums. Even with her head hidden under her arms and buried in the soil, she could feel the intense surge of heat radiating outward. When at last she looked, she saw a raging inferno where a tree cutter once had been, a ball of flame that seemed to spew forth from the bowels of the earth itself.
Pieces of machinery fell to earth all around her. Flames continued to devour the steel contraption. “Are you all right?” Maureen asked.
Tess nodded. “I’m fine. Just a little shaken up.” She couldn’t tell them the truth-that she had seen one of these things exploded before.
Suddenly Tess’s ears were alerted to another sound-voices. They were coming from the clearing on the other side of the burning machine.
“Oh my God,” Maureen said. “Someone’s here.”
“They’ve seen us,” Rick said, clenching his teeth. He looked down at his friend. “Al, are you all right?”
Al pulled himself up to his knees. A trickle of blood lined the side of his face. “I’ll make it.”
The voices were coming closer. In the flickering light provided by the inferno, Tess saw three figures racing forward. Three angry figures. And at least one of them was holding a gun.
“Let’s go!” Rick shouted. They turned and ran, heading back the way they came, this time not in any orderly fashion but all at once, helter-skelter, trying to make as much time as possible.
Tess ran as fast as she could manage, trying not to trip, to fall, to hit anything. She wasn’t sure which prospect scared her more: that the people chasing them would catch her or that her newfound friends would leave her alone in the dark forest.
She didn’t have time to weigh the grim possibilities. She just tried to stay on her feet and to keep them moving.
A gunshot erupted over their heads.
“Run!” Rick cried. And Tess ran, with every ounce of energy she could muster.
But the voices were gaining on them.